


Fireworks and Snow

by Blue_Sparkle



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gift Exchange, Kid Fic, New Year's Eve, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 04:39:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8953963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Sparkle/pseuds/Blue_Sparkle
Summary: Nori, Dwalin, and their children spend the last night of the year together quietly.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my exchange gift for beargirl1393 over on tumblr!  
> I decided to go with New Year's Eve to add to the modern AU with kids, as that's what I'm the most familiar with. The children are between 5 and 9 years old
> 
> Enjoy!

Nori woke from her nap, groaning and muttering about the darkness in the room. She’d gone to sleep when the winter sun had still valiantly tried to break through the thick grey clouds, headphones on and a scarf drawn over her face. She could hear her family’s voices muffled from another room, but that wasn’t the reason she’d woken up.

The headphones had slipped off and hung against her neck awkwardly, and Nori could already feel her spine protesting the uncomfortable position she’d shifted into during her sleep. She stretched and blinked towards the digital clock in the living room, telling her that it was past eight already. Dinner would be ready soon, if Dwalin had taken on the task all by himself, as she knew he would have.

Usually they ate earlier, so that the children could be in bed at a reasonable time and still play a little after dinner, but given that everyone would be staying up past midnight the dinner had been pushed back as well.

It was only Dwalin and the children this year, given how Ori was away on some educational excursion and Dori had decided to go away to somewhere nice and warm and by the beach. Suited Nori just as well. It was by far less stressful to try and visit all the relatives or try to cram the entire family into somebody’s small living space, given how one had to invite _everyone_ they knew.

Even Nori’s current exhaustion was her own damn fault and not the rush of trying to get groceries and presents on time. Had she gone to bed at a reasonable time in anticipation of staying up beyond midnight she’d be just fine. But Bofur was in Canada right now and she’d lost track of time texting him until way too late. Had she not woken up way too early in the morning feeling like getting it on with Dwalin she’d not have this problem either. Dwalin had gone to sleep just after putting the children to bed had yet to show the slightest sign of being tired, curse him.

She yawned and stood up to stretch, balancing on her toes and arching her back as far as she could without losing her balance. She tossed her headphones back on the armchair and pocketed her phone before making her way towards the source of the voices.

The kitchen was a slight mess, a sign of the children helping with the food preparation even though Dwalin could be much quicker on his own. The man in question had already set out the plates, four of them, though only two people were sitting at the table right now.

Nori allowed herself only a short moment of leering at her husband, eyes moving over his broad back down to where the fabric of his jeans stretched nicely over his firm arse.

Then her attention shifted back to the situation at hand and she stepped to the table to look at what her family had cooked up. There were fried potatoes and a bowl of gravy and meatballs. Dwalin was currently in the process of cutting up a few mushrooms, under the watchful eye of Nordin, who was kneeling on his chair and leaning forwards to glare at the food his father was cutting up. He’d only recently decided to tentatively start trusting mushrooms, but he only would eat them if each piece was small enough, just in case he decided that he didn’t want them after all mid bite.

“Ma!” he called out excitedly when her soft footsteps distracted him from the mushrooms. “We made meatballs!”

“So I see,” Nori nodded, taking note of the blue headband in Nordin’s hair, keeping the unruly strands at bay. It wasn’t long enough to braid or pull back with ties yet, but he had inherited Dwalin’s messy strands. Dori had taught him to never prepare food with his hair a mess, so now Nordin had taken to headbands while at home. It suited him at least, more so than what Nori had feared Dori might have come up with fashion wise.

“Can we go shoot some fireworks after dinner?” he asked excitedly, ignoring the mushrooms Dwalin now was piling onto his plate.

“I doubt you’ll eat slow enough for midnight to be here by the time you’re done,” Nori teased and her son pouted at her.

“I bet I will!”

As if to prove his words Nordin took a tiny bite of meatball and started chewing it deliberately slow.

Dwalin shook his head with a laugh.

“There’s no need to drag things out. We’ll all eat together and time will fly.”

Nordin shook his head vehemently. Nori pulled out a chair for herself, and looked around to see where her daughter was.

“Where’s Lori?” she asked.

“In the living room I think.”

Nori rested her hand on Dwalin’s shoulder, glancing towards the door. Her husband’s finger’s laced with hers for a moment, squeezing gently.

“Will you go fetch her as I finish here?” Dwalin asked as he gestured to the not yet filled plates with his free hands.

“Sure.”

She ran her fingertips over Dwalin’s as she went towards the living room, humming quietly as she did so. The lights weren’t on in the room, and for a second Nori thought that Lori must have gone somewhere else in the meantime, before she spotted a child’s dark silhouette against the dark window. 

Lori sat on the back of the couch, facing the window that was right above it. Her little hands were clutching the windowsill instead of bracing against the glass, just as Dori told her in damage control when he realized there was no way he could make his niece stop sitting on the couch like that at all. 

“What are you doing there, my little bunny?” Nori asked and stepped to the window as well.

She’d long stopped worrying about her daughter’s love for sitting on couches wrong. Lori wasn’t one to run and jump around wildly, as her brother sometimes did, and instead she just found it comfortable. Nori saw no reason in forbidding it, as Lori was old enough to keep her balance just fine.

“Do you think it’ll snow?” Lori asked, eyes still firmly trained on the outside world.

Nori leaned forward to gaze up at the heavy black clouds above. It was a little hard to see with a nearby streetlamp’s light falling against the window.

“Perhaps. You could wish for snow when it strikes midnight if you want.”

Lori nodded solemnly and slid off the couch’s backrest into her mother’s arms. She turned around so that Nori could reach her hair easier and adjust the ribbons in her hair. They had been a present from Ori, embroidered with small flowers and snowflakes, and the light blue colour matched Lori’s dark red hair perfectly. Nori patted the buns Lori usually wore, smiling at how much Lori’s hair was like her father’s, even it always was shinier and neater than Dwalin had ever bothered to make his own look.

“Let’s go have dinner then, and then we can look for snow after.”

There was no rush as the family sat together and ate their last meal of the year. Nordin had given up on trying to be as slow as physically possible in eating, though he kept halting by excitedly talking about a theatre project they’d be doing in school after the winter break. Lori didn’t talk, instead focusing on cutting up her food and eating all by herself. She only allowed Dwalin to reach over and help her cut thing when a meatball was giving her too much trouble.

When they were done with dinner it still wasn’t nearly close enough to midnight, and Dwalin had to pacify Nordin with offering to make some hot chocolate. Lori was content just waiting quietly, lost in thought.

Nori nearly fell asleep once more, quiet and content as she was, and Lori wasn’t fussing around too much either. She was vaguely aware of Dwalin and Nordin arguing about the amount of warm things he had to put on before they went out into the snow, and sleep was about to claim her when-

“MA LOOK!”

The unusual volume in Lori’s voice startled Nori awake. She blinked up at her daughter, who had slipped off her lap to look out of the window once more.

“It’s snowing!”

The sight of the weather changing like that held her attention, and Nordin joined her by the window to gaze out as well, impatience about the approaching new year forgotten. By the time they started getting ready in earnest a layer of snow was covering the street outside, and Nori could see the trees in the nearby park bright with it and lights wrapped around the branches. 

After a brief struggle to get two impatient children to put on their gloves and scarves, Dwalin grabbed the fireworks and all four started making their way to the park where more and more people from the neighbourhood were gathering. 

Snow was falling heavily and Nori felt like strangely calmed by the mixture of the sight of quiet snowflakes and the noises all around her. Excited children were shouting to each other and their families, running around and throwing the occasional snowball, glass clinked against glass where people had brought champagne along to drink and use the bottles to start fireworks from. She could even hear the whistle and cracking of some early ones already starting somewhere out of sight.

Nordin was bouncing excitedly as Lori peeked up from above her scarf, one tiny hand outstretched to try and catch a snowflake on her mitten. As soon as her brother noticed he made some effort to catch one as well, without melting or breaking. He showed one to his sister, containing his excitement enough to hold still and let her grasp his hand to examine it with a serious face.

“Are all snowflakes really unique in the whole wide world?” Lori asked, gazing up at her parents.

Nori shrugged, unsure of whether she’d read that debunked or no, but Dwalin nodded firmly.

“There’s not one in the world that is just like this one.”

The children stared up at him and then turned back to their catch, still un-melted against Nordin’s glove.

“We have to take care of this one,” Lori whispered to him, just quiet enough that Nori had to grin at the attempted secrecy. 

They stood whispering together for a while, until Nordin decided that they should move forwards where some other children were waiting for the best view on the fireworks. Nori and Dwalin stayed where they were, content to watch from where they were. It was nice standing quietly among the crowd, just waiting.

Bells rang and finally the choir of a countdown started. Nordin and Lori had joined some other children from the neighbourhood, counting loudly as well.

Dwalin’s fingers wrapped around Nori’s, soft and warm.

 

“Three – Two –“

Nori leaned closer against Dwalin.

“One – HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Nori wasn’t even done joining into the shout as Dwalin’s hands cupped her cheeks and she was pulled into a kiss. It was sweet and chaste, much shorter than what Nori would have preferred, and Dwalin’s nose bumped against her skin, icy cold.

“Happy new year, he whispered against her ear, picking up her hand. “Here’s your present.”

Nori waited patiently as Dwalin took off his glove and then took something from his pocket to slip on her finger. She wore no rings usually, finding them uncomfortable and a hindrance in her day to day activities. It was hard to be displeased about any ring Dwalin had to give her though. She raised her hand to take a closer look at this one.

It was a simple band with metallic swirls on a smooth surface. With the colours of the fireworks that had started to go off all around them it took Nori a moment to realize what the actual colour on the ring was, and then she snorted out a laugh.

“A mood ring?”

“Seemed like the perfect thing for you,” Dwalin said with a smile, and Nori had to fight her own smile.

She could remember being younger, a bratty young kid who always got into fights with bigger kids. Back then Dwalin and had drawn her name during the school’s holiday exchange, and had gotten her a cheap little mood ring in the shape of a star. Though Nori remembered having a weird enmity with the boy from two grades up, she had cherished the little thing. It had been the first thing Dwalin had ever gifted her, even though they hadn’t even been friends then, and even though he’d moved away and they hadn’t met each other again until Nori was in her final year of high school.

“Don’t worry, there’s a proper present back home.”

“It’s very sweet,” Nori admitted, quietly so only Dwalin could hear.

Her eyes burned a little, but she would not shed a single tear in public. Instead she blinked quickly and leaned up to give Dwalin another kiss.

This time his arms tightened around her waist.

It didn’t last long, as Nori could hear a familiar voice calling for her attention. The pair broke apart to see Nordin waving at them excitedly, and Lori stomping behind him.

“It’s time for fireworks, isn’t it!?” Nordin asked, hope in his eyes.

Dwalin laughed and started opening the box of fireworks, assuring the children that yes, it was time, and yes, they would get to fire at least one rocket each.

Nori touched the ring on her hand, grinning. The excitement over getting to blow something up and not get in trouble for it she’d had all her life on new year’s eve wasn’t enough to drown out how emotional she felt right now, but it was good for now.

She reached down to take her children’s hands and all three of them followed Dwalin to set up some fireworks.


End file.
